As Paula Radcliffe exited the cavernous post-race facilities of the Berlin Marathon HQ, with Olympic qualification safely registered and her four year old daughter giving a last cheerful wave at the personalised press corps from which Radcliffe will now be granted a period of remission, it was tempting to imagine that here was an athlete with a burden or two decisively lifted.

This is Paula Radcliffe however, and even as others might be celebrating third place and a first marathon finish for three years, Radcliffe instead revealed that she has been suffering from a fresh injury that now requires surgery.

On Friday the world record holder will have an operation in Northampton to remove what she described as "this nasty bone" from her left ankle, a bone spur that has grown significantly in the past year and which has, along with a post-partum thyroid problem, significantly impeded her training.

"It's a bone, but it's not attached," she said. "You can see it. There's a big lump here. When I'm running it gets in the ligaments and it causes inflammation. It doesn't really hurt while I'm running, it bothers me afterwards. It's grown a lot this year, but they've scanned it and it's not attached. If it's attached they have to chip away at the bone.

"I'm in for scans on Wednesday, then they're going to operate on Friday. It's so I don't really have to take much time out because I normally have three weeks' rest after [a marathon] anyway. It's just taking it out, then two weeks recovery, then getting back into training."

For all Radcliffe's bravery in achieving the qualifying time under such handicaps, this is yet another in a bulging back-catalogue of serious injuries for an athlete who appears to be in a state of constant crisis-management with her own veteran champion's physique.

In spite of which, Radcliffe's own instant reaction in Berlin was disappointment at being beaten by Florence Kiplagat of Kenya and Irina Mikitenko of Germany. She said: "I wanted to come here and win. I went out wanting to race. It felt OK, but then at 15k I just thought right I'm being a bit stupid here, just run it and when I'm in better shape I can do better. I just had to swallow my pride. Still, it's ticked off, I've qualified. Now I need to race more."

Radcliffe's next full marathon will be at next summer's London Olympics, for which a race strategy already appears to be emerging. For successive Games Radcliffe has been a front-runner dogged by race-day problems. Next year represents a first opportunity to restyle herself as an outsider free from the pressures of favourite-dom, a wily competitor ready to pounce on the weakness of others.

"You can't magic yourself back 10 years," she said. "But it's not going to be the same [as Berlin at the Olympics]. You're not going to have four men around you telling you what to do and telling you where your drinks are. I prefer just a women's race. It's a totally different game mentally. At big championships it's not the fastest person, it's the person who gets it right on the day."

For Radcliffe that process begins with surgery on Friday, followed by trips in November and January to the Kenyan altitude camp also used by Mo Farah.